Dreaming in Reality
by 26YearsOlder
Summary: I can't sum my story up 'cause I'm not done writing it yet! But in general it's about a 13 year old girl, Kiera, who finds out she can see into other worlds. Sooner or later she'll end up in war... playing a key role! How fun?
1. Chapter 1

**Dreaming in Reality**

**Chapter 1**

I woke with a start. It was a fire alarm! Fire! In the house! _I've gotta get up, gotta get out…_ I thought. But as I struggled to sit up in my bed, I realized that it was no fire alarm that had so suddenly woken me up. It was only my alarm clock, telling me to get up and to get ready for school. I rubbed my face tiredly, reached over to my alarm clock which was flashing green '6:00 a.m.', and smacked the snooze button. Then I slunk back under the soft, warm covers.

_Just five more minutes, then I'll get up and get ready…_

Thirty minutes later I heard my alarm again.

"Oh, dang it! How can I be this tired?" I mumbled angrily at myself.

I jumped out of my bed and raced to the closet. There, I picked out a pair of blue jeans, a plain white tee shirt, and a navy blue sweatshirt. Then I ran, as fast as I could make my tired self go, to the bathroom. I jumped through the shower real quick, got dressed, and brushed my teeth. As I looked into the mirror to fix my hair, I saw the same old thing: the thin face of a 13-year-old girl with long, dark hair.

I threw my still-damp hair up into a quick ponytail, just like every day, and checked my watch. The getting-ready-for-school process usually took about a half an hour, so I guessed it would be about seven o'clock. Yep, so now I've got five minutes to get to the bus stop. I hastily wrote a note to my older brother, Shawn:

_I forgot to tell you yesterday: my bus is picking me up fifteen minutes earlier now. We were just getting to school way too late everyday. See you later! _

_Kiera_

I put it on the fridge where he would find it when he woke up. Then, checking to be sure the cats and dog were outside real fast, I opened our apartment door quietly so as not to wake Shawn, and shut it in the same manner. Looking down at my watch, my eyes widened. Only two minutes to get to the bus stop! I ran the whole two blocks and got there just in time to see the bus's doors close.

"Wait!" I yelled, waving my arms.

I saw the bus driver roll her eyes as she opened the doors again.

"That's the third time in a row. I getting sick of this, you get here on time!" She scolded strictly. The bus driver's name was Vicky. She was in her late 50s, and really lived up to her name. Our bus, 26, was the only that didn't allow anyone to talk. Of course, people whispered to each other, anyway. But if Vicky caught you, you'd better brace yourself triple time! She would yell and give you a write-up, but the worst part was that she would make up stories to tell to the principle of the school. She was truly awful.

"It won't happen again," I said.

"You said that yesterday, now sit down!" Vicky replied angrily.

I obeyed. I sat in the vacant seat in row 11, on the driver's side. The bus had started moving before I sat down. I put my backpack by my side and searched the side pocket for my MP3 player. When I found it, I took it out of its case, unraveled the headphones, stuck the ear buds in my ear, and hit play.

My friends always made fun of me for liking the bus ride. But the only reason I do is because it's so peaceful for me. I get to listen to my music, sit back, and think about anything I want. Sometimes I'll stress about school, with questions like: Did I get _all _my homework done? Did I practice my violin enough? Did I forget to get anything signed? Usually, I'd realize I had nothing to worry about, so then I would move onto another subject. Most times, that new subject will be daydreaming. My daydreams can be about anything; ranging from dragons and knights to robots and hover cars.

This morning, I started to dream about a battle between Vicky and I. Vicky would be in the form of a fat, giant, evil robot. She would look kind of like a giant ape, only made of metal, with huge glowing red eyes. I would be a kind of sorceress; dressed in long, black robes, with a crooked, white, wizard's hat.

Vicky yelled and pounded her huge, metal monkey fists on the ground, shaking the whole Earth. I fell backwards from the shock waves, but got up quickly. Then, I started muttering spells. Soon, I began to hover above the ground so as to not be affected by Evil Vicky's artificial earthquakes. Muttering more spells, I put my hands together. After my last enchantment, I was holding a long sword. It was invincible, as long as I could keep chanting my sacred curse continuously. But that's like having to tell yourself to breathe every time you need to! So, of coarse, every few minutes or so, I forgot to chant the spell. Luckily, Vicky's blows weren't accurate enough to destroy my sword. As I go in for my attack, I start chanting again. My blow isn't fatal, but it's strong. Vicky rubbed her head where she was hit. I took this distraction to my advantage and hovered around her. There it was, on her right shoulder blade: the off switch! I grinned, and moved in for the shutting down of the Evil Vicky. _I'll be a hero! _I thought. Just as I reached out for the huge lever, Vicky realized what I was doing, and turned around to smack me to the ground. I got up dazed. She was a blur through my eyes, but I could still see the outline of her ape-like hand reaching for me. Shaking my head, I swiftly recited my hover-spell and nearly escaped her clutches. I flew around her to take another shot at shutting her down. Again, she was quick to react and turned around to let out a great ape-like howl. I was blown back by the wind of her scream, and I tried to gain control again. As soon as I did, I thought, _Alright, I need a plan B. _Then I remembered a certain curse. So I murmured under my breath, "cindrilio desendico!" Suddenly a huge cinderblock came down out of nowhere and hit Vicky square in the head. She wobbled around, stunned for a while, and then fell over with a great CRASH!

"HA HAA! I have defeated the Great Vicky! Or should I just call you Cinderblock?" I shouted of my victory and then –

"KIERA NELSON!!!" someone screamed, jerking me out of my fantasy world.

"Huh- wha-?" I said, sitting up. I looked around. It had been Vicky, in bus driver form, who had yelled my name. As I looked around even more, I found that I was the only one on the bus. Looking out the window, I saw the school…

_Oh… _I thought.

"GET OFF THE BUS!" Vicky screamed again.

I got up clumsily and tripped a little going up the rows. I still wasn't fully back into consciousness. As I passed the bus driver, she squinted her eyes at me evilly. I remembered my daydream, and, smiling and laughing quietly to myself, I ran to catch up to everybody else, and follow the crowd into the school.


	2. Chapter 2

**Dreaming in Reality**

**Chapter 2**

School began at 8:05; my first class was English. I got real lucky; the English teacher is the happiest person you'll ever meet. It's a great way to start off a day at school. Today, we have our papers on Canada due.

"Alright, now I'll take your papers please! Pass them all to the front of the row," Mrs. C said. Her real name is Mrs. Causewell, but everyone calls her Mrs. C.

I sat in the row on the far right-hand side of the room, third from the front. So, I took the stack of papers from the people behind me, put mine on top, and passed it to the person in front of me, who did the same. Last night, I had done most of the paper. We were instructed to do five paragraphs, and I had only written one before last night. It was assigned about a month about, too. So I had had to write four good paragraphs all in a matter of hours. Although I had had my entire bunch of information ready to go, it was still hard to put the information into a group of sentences that made sense. See, I was a procrastinator, and sometimes, it can get me into trouble. That was probably why I woke up so late that morning.

"Thank you," Mrs. C said when she had collected all the papers from the fronts of the rows, "I hope to have these graded and recorded by next week sometime, and then I'll hand them back to you. For now, though, let me explain tonight's worksheet!"

I slumped backward in my seat, getting myself into a comfortable listening position. The worksheet was on verbs: action verbs, linking verbs… that kind of stuff. English never really interested me; even with the way Mrs. C made it sound so fun. My favorite subject is Math. I like numbers more so than words.

Mrs. C handed out our worksheet and gave us the rest of the class period to work on it. It really wasn't that hard; we just had to go through a bunch of sentences, circle the verb, and write on the line whether it was linking or action. The catch was that there were about fifty sentences.

Fifteen minutes 'til the end of class, and I had gotten ten sentences done in a matter of five minutes.

_Maybe I'll actually get this done before the end of the period,_ I thought.

When the bell rang, I only had five more sentences to go, so I knew I'd finish it up in advisor, a study period after lunch. That meant no English homework tonight.

My next class was the rotation class. In rotation, everyone had to take GYM every other day, and on the days you didn't have it, you'd either have Orchestra, Band, or Chorus; whichever you had chosen in those last few weeks of fifth grade. I chose Orchestra, and there's never been a day yet when I've regretted it.

I hear other people talking about their rotation class, and well over half the time I'll hear negative comments about it. They say things like, "Well, now I _have_ to go to Band!" or "Ugh… I _hate _Chorus!" My friends laugh at me for actually liking Orchestra more than GYM, but none of them are in Orchestra, so they wouldn't know how fun it was.

Today, I happened to have Orchestra. So I walked from English to my locker, which was down the hall, number 39. There, I shoved my binder into the crammed space, and grabbed my music book. I had to quickly slam my locker shut, otherwise everything would fall out. When I stood up, I found myself face to face with another person.

"Hey!" Leann said, enthusiastically, "You pumped for Orchestra? Of coarse you are! You always are! You crazy person!"

Leann was one of my best friends. She was always overexcited, and funny, too. She had a darker shade of blonde hair that was about shoulder length, and blue eyes. So, of coarse, we all made fun of her for being a 'blonde'.

I laughed.

"Hi, Leann! What about you? Are you pumped for Chorus?" I said, sarcastically. Leann was one of the people who hated her rotation. She looked at me like I had just fallen from the sky.

"You really are crazy! Stupid!" She laughed, "No, I'm just kidding. Well, you go have fun in Orchestra!"

"Oh I will, and you have fun in Chorus!" I said. Leann rolled her eyes; we laughed, and headed off to our next classes.

To get to the Orchestra room from my locker, I had to go outside and through the school's courtyard. The room, B7, was in the basement of the school. So, I went down the short set of stairs, and then through the hallway to get my instrument from the storage room. On the hallway ceiling you could see pipes, and the walls were just cement, so it had the feeling of a basement, too.

When I got in the storage room, and had gotten my violin, I met another one of my friends.

"Hi, Maddie!"

Maddie looked up. She had reddish hair that was longer than shoulder length, but only by about a few inches. I was a little taller than her, but size is nothing when it comes to Maddie.

"Hi! How come you haven't been on your email?" She demanded immediately. I was _always_ on my computer, but never seemed to remember to check my email. Maddie was always sending me emails, so she got all mad when I didn't check on my emails.

"Oh, yeah… I forgot… I'll try to remember tonight!" I replied.

Then we walked back to the classroom talking about random things, as always. By the time we got there, only about thirty seconds later, we were laughing about who-knows-what. We sat down, got set up, and tuned our violins. That's what the first five minutes of class is for, setting up and tuning.

Five minutes later, class truly began. Mr. Henderson told everyone to quiet down. Tuning can get really loud. We started class tuning, in which someone stands up, and plays their 'A' string first, and everyone will play along, listening for abnormalities in their pitches. The person then plays their 'D', 'G', and 'E' string. The violas and cellos will play their 'C' string after that. As soon as everyone's satisfied, we started to play our music.

We played music out of the book for most of the class period, with some jokes here and there made by Mr. Henderson when students playing bases complained about having to stand up all the time, and little things like that. Orchestra was one of my favorite classes for that reason. Mr. Henderson was really funny.

About three minutes before the bell rang, at nine fifty, Mr. Henderson told everyone to pack up. We put our instruments in their cases, and took them back to the storage room. Right after I'd put my instrument away, the bell rang. I went back outside and through the courtyard, to my locker. I had come back from Orchestra empty handed, rather than with my music book. I usually just leave my book with my instrument, to pick up after school.

Next, I had Science, my least favorite subject. I yanked my book out of that jam-packed mess of a locker, and shut it quickly, before anything could fall out.

_Mental note: clean locker after school!_ I thought to myself.

After that, I shoved my way through the crowded hallway, to get to room 26. When I got there, I found my seat and looked up at the board. On it, there was the plan for the day. It said that we were going to correct last night's homework first, discuss it, and then review the test on plants that we'd taken yesterday.

I got out my homework and red pen. The assignment last night had been a double-sided worksheet. It had just been a fill-in-the-blank or multiple-choice kind of thing, so I'd gotten most of it done in class.

"Good morning, everyone! Red pens?" The teacher, Ms. Lynda said. Everyone held up their correcting pens for her to see.

"Excellent! Nobody forgot theirs?" She looked around, "Alright, now we can begin… Number one: 'What is the process that plants use to make food named?' Let's see, Jake, can you answer that for us?"

"Uh… isn't it like, Photosynthesis?" Jake said. He was one of those kids that liked to show off. He was one of the 'popular' kids at school, and thought he was so cool.

"Yes, good job, Jake!" Ms. Lynda complimented.

As soon as we'd got the paper corrected, had our scores recorded, and discussed it, we started to review.

"Kiera and Lizzie, will you pass the tests back, please?"

Lizzie, a tall kid with shoulder-length, dark, curly hair, and I went up to Ms. Lynda's desk and got the tests. As I was handing out papers, I found mine. I'd gotten a 98, an A!

Soon, Lizzie and I had finished giving everyone their paper. Ms. Lynda then went up to the front of the room with the answer key. She went over each section of the test, and asked us if we had any questions about ones we got wrong.

When we were done, we put the tests in our binders. Ms. Lynda then gave us our assignment for tonight. We were to do questions one through thirty on page 322. It sounded like a lot, but that was before I actually opened my book and looked over the assignment. It was basically like last night's worksheet. A little less than half of it was multiple choice, then some fill-in-the-blank, and only three essay-like questions.

In the span of the rest of the class, which was about fifteen minutes, I had gotten all of the multiple choice done, and some fill-in-the-blank. Then the bell rang. Everyone clumsily got their papers together, shoved them in their binders, and walked out of class.

_All right! One more class, then lunch!_ I thought. The day always goes by pretty fast.

Back to my locker again. This time I didn't get too lucky; everything jumped out at me. My coat was the main cause of the problem, followed by my backpack. They were hogging all the room for my books and things. So I took my coat, wound it into a tight ball, and shoved it in my backpack, also making that as small as possible. Before I put it back in the locker, I got the stuff I needed, just incase my plan didn't work as well as I hoped. I still had to slam the door shut, but I got all my stuff to stay in my locker this time.

Afterward, I looked down to check my watch.

_Only a minute!_

And I still had to go all the way across the school! Grabbing my stuff off the floor, I stood up and ran.


	3. Chapter 3

**Dreaming in Reality**

**Chapter 3**

****

I had managed to get to Art on time, but just barely. Literally, the second I sat down, the bell rang.

"Ooo, somebody's late!" Leann said. She sat at my table.

"No, did you see that? I sat down a second _before_ the bell rang!" I defended myself.

"Well, _some_body's also cranky!"

I laughed, "Am not!"

"Are too!"

We laughed, and then Mr. Dawson quieted everyone down. He was the Art teacher, and an artist himself. I know that sounds funny, of course he's an artist if he teaches art! But you'd be surprised at how many Art teachers in this school couldn't draw a thing!

Currently in Art, we were doing a project about perspective. Each table had to draw the same thing, but each person had to draw it from a different point of view. I thought it would be an awesome project. Our table had to draw the inside of a gold mine. My perspective was from one of the rocks on the right edge. There were three other people here at my table, and therefore, three different perspectives. But we couldn't tell one another anything about our drawings, because when the project was done, we were going to try and guess where each other's perspectives were.

All period we just drew. That's why art was another one of my favorite classes, next to orchestra, because I could drift into daydream-mode anytime I wanted. And that's exactly what I was doing just then…

I was in an underground gold mine, but still dressed in my regular school clothes. I stood out next to all of the other people in the mine; they were all dressed in dirty, black, mining clothes. They were all working hard, mining for gold.

I was just exploring. Looking around, I saw a small tunnel in one of the walls. Curiously, I walked over to it. When I got there, I bent down and looked through it. It was really dark, so I couldn't see without a light. Instinctively, I reached in my pocket, and surprisingly found a flashlight. So I turned it on and shined in down the tunnel. Something white flashed through there. I blinked my eyes. It had looked like the white tip of a foxtail! What was a _fox_ doing down here? Underground in a gold mine? That didn't make any sense at all. So, of course, I had to check it out. Getting down on my hands and knees, I started to crawl through the dark channel.

I took my flashlight and held it in my mouth so that I could see and use both my hands at the same time. Right about where I'd seen the fox's tail, there was a three-way fork in the tunnel. I chose to go right; I was sure that's the way the fox had gone. In the tunnel, I had only about an inch or two of space between the walls and I. The whole time, I had to tell myself that I was going to be fine, because I was claustrophobic. But I _had _to find out where the fox had gone.

After crawling for a while in the same direction, I came to another intersection. I took the flashlight out of my mouth and held it in my right hand. Flashing it through the passageway to my right first, then my left, I saw it! He was creeping slowly through the small tunnel, his tail waving to and fro slowly. As I gazed at him, I noticed that his tail wasn't red with a white tip like a normal fox's tail should be. Instead it was an uncontaminated white color. Looking closer, I noticed that the sleek body of the fox was just like his tail. This was a truly beautiful creature. But, again, what was it doing down here?

Suddenly he stopped and turned his head to look straight at me. His eyes were a brilliant green. For some reason, I was afraid. This fox had the air of a powerful being. But I held his gaze. He seemed to be studying me, as if wondering what _I _was doing down here. After what felt like a really long time, he seemed to get bored and started moving again.

I didn't know if I should go back or not. Somehow, it seemed that the fox had wanted me to follow it; the way he had moved so slowly. Curiosity bested me and I ended up following in his wake. He didn't round on me, so I figured it was ok. I knew that he had heard me, for as quiet as I was _trying_ to be. My clothing was making most of the noise. The fox, however, made not a sound. The pads of his paws silently moved him along in the dark, cramped passage.

After what seemed like hours, we finally came (to my surprise) to a small opening. As the fox approached it, he looked back at me again. He didn't just _nod,_ did he? No, that's stupid; he's a fox, he wouldn't _nod_ at me. But, on the slight chance that it actually was a nod, I guess it was the OK for me to exit the tunnel with him.

He jumped through the small cavity. I followed slowly afterward. When I'd gotten out, I had to shut my eyes completely. It was so bright, and especially after being in that pitch-black tunnel for a long time with only dim flashlight, my eyes really needed time to adjust. It took a little longer than usual, but soon I could see again.

Shortly after I'd opened my eyes, I received a huge shock. I had been expecting the tunnel exit to lead to another small mine shaft or something, but it had lead into an immense forest! When I looked around, I also saw a huge city rising up from the trees farther to the north. But… wait, I was underground, so how could this happen? They're shouldn't be a city _or _a forest underground!

I looked around for the fox. He was sitting down in front of me, giving himself a wash. Now that it was bright, I could see him better. The fox had beautiful white fur, which was even more beautiful against the light, plus a sleek, bushy tail. He probably sensed me studying him, and stopped washing to look up at me. Then he stood up. He turned around and started walking. As he walked away, his tail swished, just once, behind him. I was incredulous. He was gesturing for me to follow him! So I obeyed, but clumsily, I was still kind of in a state of shock.

As I followed him, I started thinking.

_This is silly, why am I following a fox? He did NOT gesture for me to follow him; that must have just been a coincidence… This is a really weird daydream, how did I get from dreaming about a _mine_ to a _white fox?

Then I realized that the fox had come to a halt in front of me. I hadn't been watching where he was taking me as I was enclosed in my thoughts. He had taken me into a small clearing in the forest. In the clearing, there were small dens located everywhere. Though, it seemed deserted.

He turned around and sat down in front of me. And then, as if I needed another stressing surprise, the fox actually spoke!

"Hello, Kiera," He said. His voice was very deep, and when he spoke, he showed teeth white as snow.

I was speechless. _First, he spoke, and now he knows my name?_

He smiled, "You're probably wondering how I know your name,"

"Y-yes," I stuttered, gaining my ability of speech back a little.

"Well, there's a lot to explain, and right now, I don't have too much time," He said, "Let me start by asking you a few questions."

"Ok," I said.

"Firstly, you _are_ Kiera Nelson, correct?"

"Uh… yeah," I replied.

"And you are a Visionary?"

"A what?"

"A Visionary. I'm sorry, let me rephrase that. You have very vivid _daydreams_, right? As you Humans call it," He asked me.

_You Humans? What does he mean?_

He seemed to have read my thoughts.

"I'm sorry. As I said, I have little time, so I'm unable to explain. But, please, tell me, you _do_ have daydreams?" He asked again.

"Um… yeah, I do. But everyone at my school does," I told him. I didn't know if he knew what a school was, but he looked satisfied with my answer anyway.

"Excellent. But now, I'm afraid it's time for you to leave. As you go, please remember this: We'll meet again, and really soon, too," the fox said.

Everything vanished before I had time to say anything.

I shook my head. When I was fully back on Earth, the first thing I saw was my Art paper. While I was daydreaming, I had been doodling, too. There, in the gold mine, was a white fox. Unconsciously, I had drawn the fox I'd seen in my little daydream.

I thought everyone would be looking at me, because I sometimes talk in my daydreams. But as I looked around the room, they were all leaning over their papers, trying to get excruciating detail in their pictures. Well that was good, at least I didn't have to worry about people spreading rumors about me talking to myself.

I looked up at the clock. It had only been fifteen minutes? That was impossible; the dream had lasted for hours! To be sure of myself, I check my wristwatch also. It confirmed it; it really had only been fifteen minutes…

"Whatcha got there, Kiera?" A voice startled me.

"Huh? Oh, um… I don't know… a fox?" I said.

"Well, uh, not everyone at your table is drawing a fox in the gold mine. It's a really good drawing, but, um, why don't you erase it and just draw the gold in the mine, like everyone else?" Mr. Dawson, the Art teacher, said. I could tell I wasn't in any trouble, because he was smiling.

"Yeah, ok, right!" I replied. Everyone at my table had been watching, and started to laugh. I felt my face turn red, but I smiled and laughed along a bit.

"What a _loser_!" Leann said lightheartedly.

I laughed, "Yeah, I know!"

The moment Mr. Dawson left, I took the piece of paper I'd doodled the fox on, and folded it up. Then I placed the paper in my pocket, and ran up to the supply table for more.

I didn't dare daydream for the rest of class; for some reason, that daydream had seemed real.

_What am I thinking? That was just a simple daydream. It only lasted fifteen minutes. If it had been anything special, if would have lasted longer,_ I thought.

Soon I'd gotten over it, convincing myself that it was just a daydream.

By the time Art class was over, I had re-drawn my perspective of the mine, and gotten halfway through shading it. At eleven forty, the bell rang. I took my paper and put it in the box, along with everyone else's.

Leann ran to catch up with me as we exited the Art room.

"Hey! It's finally lunch!"


	4. Chapter 4

**Dreaming in Reality**

**Chapter 4**

****

For lunch, I had almost the same thing I had everyday: a chicken burger, a fruit, and some salad without dressing. The school dressing is just plain gross! I went through the line, picking everything up, got to the end, paid, and went to go sit down.

I sit with Leann and Maddie. There are also two other friends I haven't mentioned yet: Amber and Zoe. They are part of the group, too. Together, I'd bet anything that we're the loudest bunch of kids in the lunchroom. Anything anyone says can lead to and explosion of laughter. There are also weird, loud, random noises that can be heard coming from our table, usually courtesy of Leann.

"Oh great! The _loser_ is sitting with us again!" Amber said as I sat down.

"As it does every day!" I replied proudly.

"Yeah, but we don't like losers!"

"Then just imaging me as something else!"

Amber laughed, "Like a fat pig?"

I laughed, too. My friends were always making fun of me for eating a lot. I'm always taking anything anyone's not going to eat, so they joke and call me fat and a pig.

"Sure, as long as I can sit here," I said as I started to eat.

For the rest of lunch, we laughed and joked about who-knows-what. That's how everyday is: talking about random stuff. We talk so much that usually no one, but me, is eating so it takes us almost the whole lunch period to finish. Most of the time, the teachers on lunch duty have to kick us out onto the field so the lunchroom can get cleaned. Once we're outside, we'll just talk and joke some more.

The bell rings at one o'clock for us to go in. From there, everyone goes to their advisor. Advisor is a study period in which we can get everything done. Unlike all of our other classes, it lasts a half an hour instead of fifty minutes.

I went to my locker to get any homework I needed. So far, I only had Science and English, so I grabbed my Science textbook, and walked into the classroom. I sat down in my assigned seat, and started to work. First, I finished my English worksheet, and then started on my Science.

By the time Advisor was over, I'd finished my English and Science.

After Advisor, I go to Math, my favorite subject. This year, I'm taking an advanced course. I qualified last year when I passed a nation-wide test. Part of the test had been to see how well the school was doing, and part of it was to see who could qualify for the advanced math class.

After I got to Math in room 28, I got out last night's assignment. We were learning about algebra. Things like solving for _x_ in an equation like 3(5-_x_) 3(3). That was my favorite part of Math.

When class began, the first thing we did was correct our papers. I ended up getting a nineteen out of twenty. Then, we took about a page of notes. When we we're done, Mrs. Demetree gave us our assignment, which was page 245, problems 2-40 evens. She gave us the rest of the class period (about 30 minutes) to work on it. When the bell rang, I had finished the assignment.

Now it was time for 7th period! The last class of the day! And my personal favorite, Social Studies!

I found my way through the crowded hall to my locker, forcefully pulled out my things for my next class, and hurried back down the hall to room 22. I got there with one minute to spare, so I figured I might as well get ready.

I got out my binder, and looked through my Social Studies folder. Ah, there it was, my project outline. A project outline is just a packet to help us with organizing information on our slideshows. So I got it out, and then put my binder and book on the floor, under my desk. We were working with Microsoft PowerPoint, a computer program for designing presentations, to make slideshows about countries in Europe. My country was Slovenia, located in the eastern part of Europe. We got to use laptops to make our presentations so that we didn't have to go to a computer lab, or even get out of our desks, for that matter! And the laptops were really nice, too; I liked them.

The bell rang at one fifty-five. By now, everyone else in the class had done the same thing I'd done. Almost every desk had a project outline on it.

"Who's missing today, people?" Mr. Erickson asked the class. He was sitting at his desk behind his computer, as usual.

"James!"

"Tammy!"

"Rose!"

A bunch of people shouted out the names of their absent classmates at the same time. You couldn't tell what they said.

"Seventh period!" Mr. Erickson looked up from his computer, "Please, just raise your hand. Don't shout out all at once. Yes, Tanner, who's missing?"

Tanner, a thin kid sitting on the opposite side of the classroom from me, put his hand down.

"James, Tammy, Rose, and Jared," he said.

"Thank you."

Then, Mr. Erickson looked back down at his computer. While he was taking role, I got bored and decided to check my pockets for anything to do until class started. As I checked the left pocket, my hand touched a piece of paper.

_Hey, what's this?_ I thought.

I pulled it out. It was a plain, white piece of drawing paper, kinda like the ones we use in… Art! Then I remembered what it was. I unfolded it carefully and looked at the sketch. But before I had a chance to study it too much, Mr. Erickson started talking, which meant that class had officially begun. I quickly folded back up the paper, and stuck it back in my pocket.

"…so when I call your row, I want you to come up and I'll hand you your laptop. _Please, do not drop them!!_ They are very expensive, and I don't think you or your parents would want to have to pay for one."

"How much do they cost?" A curious kid, sitting three desks in front of me, had to ask.

"Something around seventeen or eighteen hundred dollars."

"Whoa…" The kid responded.

"Yeah, it's a lot, isn't it?" Mr. Erickson said, "So please hold them with both hands when you take them back to your desks. It would be best if you had nothing but a pencil and your outline out, making it less likely that they slide off."

When I finally got my laptop, (it took a while because I was in one of the rows on the far side of the room) I carefully brought it back to my desk, and set it down in the same manner.

We had done this yesterday and the day before, therefore I knew what we had to do. I opened up the laptop and pushed the little power button. Then I waited a little bit for it to load. When it came to the sign-in screen, I typed 'stdestm', which stands for 'Student Default System'. The password was student. Once the desktop showed up, I clicked the shortcut to Microsoft PowerPoint. Now I had to open my project. So I went file, open, my documents, and then PowerPointSlovenia. My project was loaded; all I had to do was type in some information.

As class went on, everyone was busy organizing their research onto slides. Today was the last day to finish our projects, because it was Friday. Mr. Erickson came around and gave us tips and comments. As he walked by my desk, he stopped.

"Nicely done. Except, you spelled Slovenia wrong on the title slide; you might wanna fix that."

"Oh, whoops," I said as I realized what I'd done. I'd put Slovinea instead of Slovenia. Mr. Erickson smiled at me, and moved on.

The rest of the period went on as such. I fixed the spelling of my country and checked for any other errors. When the bell rang at two forty-five, I'd finished, also having time to go over everything twice. I saved my work, shut down my computer, and took the laptop up to Mr. Erickson. Then I went back to my desk, put my pencil and outline in my binder, and headed out.

School's out for the weekend!


	5. Chapter 5

**Dreaming in Reality**

**Chapter 5**

****

This weekend was gonna be great. I had absolutely no plans, so that meant that I could sit around and do almost nothing. That's my type of weekend right there!

At my locker, I remembered my mental note that I'd made earlier. I had to clean my locker. It was a good thing that my brother was picking me up today, because he was always late. My bus usually leaves ten minutes after school gets out, so I'd never have had the time to clean it on a normal day.

It took me fifteen minutes to organize everything. I had had to take everything out, and spread it on the floor around me. Then I arranged my books and things in stacks in my locker. I was finally able to shut the door without slamming it.

When I got up, Leann had been standing behind me the whole time. Obviously, I had a strange look on my face when I realized she was there, because immediately after I turned around, she started cracking up. I couldn't help but laugh a bit myself. It's really strange; whenever Leann laughed, you had to laugh, too, even if you didn't know why she was laughing.

"What?" I asked.

"You – your – your f-face!" Leann finally got out, trying to stop laughing.

"Well, I didn't think anyone was here! Where you standing there the whole time?" She was still laughing uncontrollably, making me start to laugh harder.

"Y-yes!"

We stood there for a while, laughing. Finally, probably five minutes later, we regained our ability to breathe normally.

"Should we go now?" Leann asked. Her face was cherry red from laughing so much.

"Yeah."

So we walked up the hallway toward the front door. As we were walking, we passed Mr. Erickson; he was just leaving.

"Hello, ladies. Have a good weekend," He said.

"Thanks, you too!" Leann and I replied in unison.

Leann checked her watch once we got out front, to the pickup area. She was actually riding the bus today. Her bus didn't leave until three thirty though, and it took her a whole hour to get home! She had plenty of time; it was only three ten.

"So what are you gonna do this weekend?" Leann asked me.

"Ah… nothing, really. Shawn didn't tell me we had to do anything. What about you?" I said.

"Same here. Well, actually, I'm goin' to play basketball at the YMCA tonight and on Sunday."

"Fun."

"Yeah. Hey, are you playin' basketball this season?"

"I am! Are you?"

"Yeah! Cool! Do you think we'll be on the same team?"

"I hope so! That'd be awesome!"

"Yeah it would! Hey, my bus leaves in five minutes, I'm gonna go now," Leann said as she looked at her watch again.

"I'll come with you, Shawn won't be here for about ten minutes," I said.

"Ok."

So we walked around the school to the bus area. Most of them were gone, except for thirty-three, which was Leann's, and a few others. Then we said good-bye and parted.

I walked the long way back around the school to the pickup area. As soon as I'd gotten there, Shawn pulled up. I ran over to his car.

"Hi," I said, as I got in and shut the door.

"Hey, Kiera. How'd school go?" He replied. Shawn was pretty tall, even for his age, which was 20. He had black hair, like me, and had a kind of goatee going.

"Good. You know that Slovenia report thing I had to do? I finished it with time to look it over twice! I think I'll get a good grade on it."

"That's good. Hey, how's Mr. Erickson doing?" Shawn asked me. Mr. Erickson used to teach high school before he taught 7th grade, and had taught Shawn in his senior year.

"Good. I think his class is the best, it's always fun!" I said.

"I always thought that, too, but now I've got a _job_!" As he said this, he made a face.

We laughed. Then Shawn heard his favorite song playing on the radio, and turned it up real loud. It never got

turned back down, so we just listened to music the whole way home.

It took a little bit to get to our apartment, something like fifteen or twenty minutes. But soon, we pulled up in our parking spot, number 26, and got out. Our apartment room was number 202, so it was on the second floor. We took the elevator; who likes taking the stairs, honestly?

_Ding._

The elevator opened its doors to let us out. Our apartment room was down two rooms on the left. Shawn pulled out his keys and unlocked it. I went straight to my room as soon as we'd gotten in. Everyday, Shawn would go do his thing, which was usually go and call his girlfriend, and I would go do my thing.

I put my backpack on my bed, because there really was nowhere else to put it. That wasn't necessarily because of how dirty my room was, but because my room was pretty small. I had my bed in the far right hand corner, the dresser in the corner across from it, and my computer sitting next to the bed. Then I also had a small 'homework table' to my immediate right upon entering the room. The walls were painted gray, and I only had one small window, located above my 'homework table', which had dark shades. My room wasn't really bright at all, but that only meant that I could sleep really well in here.

I got my binder out of my backpack. Out of it, I got my drawing notebook and a pencil. I didn't have any homework this weekend, and when that happens, I usually just draw in place of doing homework. Drawing is one of my favorite things to do, because I don't have to be fully conscious when I'm sketching. So, again, for the third time that day, I started to slip into a daydream…


	6. Chapter 6

**Dreaming in Reality**

**Chapter 6**

I was in a small forest. What I was doing here, I had no clue. Being naturally curious, though, I started walking deeper into the woods. I saw many different types of trees. It seemed to be fall, because all the trees where losing their leaves and changing colors, so it was really beautiful walking through the forest.

After walking for what seemed like hours, I came to a small clearing. There were small mounds of dirt scattered everywhere. But as I looked closer, I saw that they were more than just mounds, they had little holes in them. They were dens!

_Wait. I've been here before, _I thought, recognizing the dens.

"I told you we'd meet again," a voice said from behind me.

I jumped as I turned around. It was the white fox again! The talking white fox!

"Whoa, what are you doing here?" I asked him. He laughed.

"I didn't exactly get a chance to clarify too much or introduce myself last time we met," He explained.

"Um… no, you–you didn't," I said. This was really weird; I never re-visited my daydreams, especially not on the same day.

"My name is Avian, I'm one of the last of the Ashen Foxes," The white fox began, "Before I explain anything, you should know one thing. There is more than just one world, the Human world. There are many different worlds, and they are all named after the most dominant species of that world. That's why we call your world the Human world, because your race is most dominant. In that world, anyway."

"Ok, wait, who's 'we'?" I asked.

"When I say 'we', I'm referring all the organisms of my world," He replied.

"And your world is the Ashen Fox world?"

"No, my race is only the second most dominant species. In this world, the Black Lion is most dominant."

"Oh…" I said. As he continued, I listened intently; this daydream was pretty interesting, no matter how weird it was.

"Worlds are also known as Parallels. This is because they exist parallel to each other. Humans think their world is the only one because they can't see us. But some animals of your world do. Has your dog ever started barking at nothing? To you humans, it may have seemed like nothing, but it was really something in a Parallel world.

"Another thing humans are wrong about is the afterlife. You all will end up here, in this world, as a certain animal,"

"Why do we end up in _your_ world? You said there were many worlds, why don't we end up in one of those worlds?" I interrupted.

"Good question. See, as I told you, all worlds are Parallels, but there are also things called Pairs. Every world has a Pair. My world is Paired to yours, which means that when you die, you come here."

"And when you die, you come to my world?" I said; it made sense to me.

"No, in this world, we live on for eternity. I seem like a young fox to you, right? But I'm really over two hundred years old," Avian said.

"Then why doesn't your world get too crowded? If what you say is true, then there should be millions of peo– I mean, living things in just this little clearing."

Avian looked satisfied, as if he was hoping I would ask this.

"You have a good point. When we come of a certain age, we can move to another world. If all worlds are full, a new world is born."

I couldn't help but laugh. This daydream was really _weird_! Living forever, Parallel worlds, Paired worlds…. It was out of control!

Avian looked at me questioningly.

"What? What do you find so funny?" He asked. He sounded offended, and disappointed.

"Parallel worlds? Paired worlds? Living forever? This is only a dream, why should I take you seriously? It's not real, you're not really here," I said. _Do I have an imagination or what?_ I thought.

"It's very important that you believe me," He said, desperately.

"Yeah, I'm only dreaming."

"I need for you to believe me," Suddenly he bared his teeth. He got up and started moving slowly toward me. Though I knew this was a dream, I was scared. I started to back away from him. Then he pounced on me. There was a great pain in my arm when he got off. I looked down at it. My sweatshirt arm was scarlet red, and there was a slit in the fabric. With my other arm, I tried to stop the bleeding. I squeezed it tightly.

"I'm sorry. I didn't want to do that, but it's essential that you believe me," He said as he walked back and sat back down. I tried to wake up, tried to get back into reality, but for some reason, I couldn't.

"Why can't I pull myself back into consciousness?" I said through gritted teeth. This was a whole different kind of pain in my arm.

"Because this isn't just one of your regular daydreams, Kiera. This is real."

"Let me go home!" I yelled at him.

"Ok. But we will see each other again. Before you go, remember this: something terrible is going to happen, and there is nothing you can do to prevent it."

I was confused, but I just wanted myself to be fully awake again. I shut my eyes tight, as if that could make it all go away. When I opened my eyes I found that everything was fading, just like the last time I met the white fox.

I shook my head. I was back.

_That was the weirdest daydream I've ever had!_

I stood up to get out of my chair.

"Ouch!" I yelled. An explosion of pain had erupted in my arm. _Oh no… _I thought. I looked down at my arm. The sweatshirt was ripped, and scarlet surrounded the wound.

"What? Kiera? Kiera, are you ok?" Shawn must have heard me, because I could hear him running towards my room. Then the door burst open.

"What happened to you?" He asked. He ran over to me. I gasped as he took my arm, the pain was incredible, "What did you do?"

"I – I must've," Thinking quickly, I tried to come up with a believable cover-up story, he wouldn't believe the truth, "I was getting something that fell off my desk, and when I got up, my arm hit the corner of the table."

"This is deep, you're gonna need stitches. I'm calling the doctor, you stay here," He said, and then ran out of my room to the phone in the kitchen.

Supporting my arm, I walked over to sit on my bed._ So the white fox is actually real?_ I thought. Then I tried to recall everything I could remember about our visits. He had said that there were many different worlds that were… _Parallel_, was it? Yeah… and if that was true, then if I stuck my hand out (I did so) then I'd be brushing millions of other organisms, without them knowing. And then there were Paired worlds. My world was Paired with Avian's world. So when I died, I'd become one of them. What else had he said? He'd asked me if I was a Visionary in our first visit. What was that supposed to mean? And then I remembered something else he'd said, _Something terrible is going to happen…_ What could that possibly be?

"Kiera. The doctor said he'd be able to get you in tomorrow morning. What a way to start off the weekend, huh? Getting cut so bad you need stitches?" Shawn said, jerking me out of my thoughts.

"Yeah," I said.

"For now, we're gonna have to put some pressure on it. I found this bandage stuff in the bathroom, we'll use it for now," Shawn held up some white fabric.

When Shawn wrapped the fabric bandages around my arm, it was really hard to keep still. He had to wrap it tight so as to stop the bleeding. That was really severe pain. Finally, he'd gotten it wrapped. It seemed to have taken forever because it hurt so much.

"Now you should last 'til the doctors appointment tomorrow," Shawn said, "Do you want me to get you anything?"

"No, I'm fine, it's only a cut," I told him.

"Ok. Just holler if you need me," And then he walked out of the room. Shawn was really overprotective about me. Our parents had died in a plane crash when I was eleven, two years ago. Shawn had just turned eighteen, so he'd been allowed to look after me by himself, because he was now officially an adult.

When he'd left, I remembered something. I reached into my pocket with my good arm, and pulled out that piece of Art paper. I opened it up and laid it out on my bed. I had drawn the fox as I'd seen him in the tunnel. He was looking over his shoulder at me, in a dark, rocky tunnel. It was too good of a sketch to be my own. I would never have been able to draw anything this detailed while I was fully conscious.

I pinned the drawing to my bulletin board that was hanging above the headboard of my bed. Suddenly, I was really tired. So I pulled back the covers of my bed with my good arm, and slid under them. It was only about eight o'clock, and though I usually stay up on weekend nights, I decided just to go to sleep tonight.

It didn't take long, and soon I had drifted into a dreamless, undisturbed sleep.


	7. Chapter 7

Dreaming in Reality 

**Chapter 7**

"Kiera. Kiera, wake up," someone was shaking me, "Hey, you're doctor's appointment is in an hour. You should get up and get ready."

I realized it was Shawn trying to get me up. _Doctor's appointment? What in the world is he talking about?_ Then I tried to sit up in my bed, and my left arm suddenly seemed to be on fire.

"Ah!" I gasped. Then I remembered what Shawn was talking about. The fox had cut my arm. _No, I cut my arm on the table,_ I thought. I needed to remember that story; no one would believe the story about my daydream.

"You all right?" Shawn asked, worried.

"I'm fine. Just forgot about my arm," I reassured him.

"Ok, well, as I said, doctor's appointment in an hour. You can get up and get ready, right?"

"Yeah, of course," I used my right arm to support myself, and sat up on my bed. That seemed to assure Shawn, so he left. After that, I got off my bed and went to my dresser. I picked out a pair of faded blue jeans, a green shirt, and then a black jacket to go over it.

I got ready just as if it were any other school day. Before we went to get in Shawn's truck, Shawn put a fresh bandage on my arm. Then we got in the truck, and started to drive. The hospital was about twenty minutes away. On the way, Shawn and I made some jokes about singers on the radio, so the drive didn't seem to take that long.

When we got there, we parked in the parking lot, and went in. We sat in the waiting room for a while, until the woman at the front counter called my name. A doctor came in the room and told us to follow him. We went down the hall one of those little examination rooms. I was told to sit on the bench, while Shawn sat in a chair, and the doctor stayed standing.

"Ok, you're Kiera?" he asked me.

"Yeah," I said.

"Hi, I'm Doctor Gerald," he stuck out his hand for me to shake it, I did so, "And what've we got here? Got a cut? Ok, lets take a look at that, then,"

I took my jacket off, and Doctor Gerald removed the bandage. While he did so, I had to grit my teeth; it still really hurt.

"Yeah… that's defiantly gonna need some stitches," the doctor said when he'd examined it, "And, tell me, how exactly did you say you got that?"

"I was grabbing something that fell off my desk, and as I got up, my arm scratched the desk," I lied.

"Hmm… because, to me, it looks like a dog's claw got you," Doctor Gerald looked at me skeptically. My heart skipped a beat. _New story!_ I tried to think quickly.

"What?" Shawn stood up.

"Yeah, some kind of dog. Care to tell the truth, Kiera?" the doctor asked me.

Shawn and Doctor Gerald were both looking at me. _Think, think!_ I yelled silently.

"Um… yeah… I was – um, I mean, on the way to school," _Keep going! It's a good start!_ I thought, "the neighbor's dogs, er, I mean, dog attacked me." I knew they wouldn't believe me. Doctor Gerald spoke first.

"I'm sorry, wrong answer. Your cut looks fresher than that. It looks like it happened, not before, but after school," he said.

"Well, ok, it _was_ after school. Lily, a kid at my school, brought her dog to school. Um… it was a big Saint Bernard. I went over to pet it, and it, uh, jumped on me. It had me pinned to the ground, and its paw was on my arm, so it scratched me," I said.

"Well, no matter how you got it, you still need stitches. I'm not the kind of doctor to do that; he'll be here in a minute. Excuse me," then the doctor left.

"Kiera, why didn't you tell me the truth? I wouldn't have gotten mad," Shawn asked.

"I just didn't want you to worry about me. You always are over-concerned with that kinda stuff," I told him. He looked sort of offended.

Then Doctor Gerald returned, accompanied by another doctor. He introduced himself as Doctor Seders. I just thought of him as the stitches doctor.

When he put the stitches through my arm, I swear I'd never felt anything like it! It hurt more than anything else, even more so than the cut Avian gave me. The stitches doctor said it would only taken about fifteen or twenty minutes, but it felt like forever. Finally, he was done, and I was free to go.

Shawn and I left the hospital and got in his truck.

"So, what do you want for lunch?" Shawn asked as we started driving.

"I don't know, whatever, I guess," I said.

"Ok," Shawn said.

So we drove home without saying anything else. At the apartment, we made some ham and cheese sandwiches with some Top Raman. After that I went to my room.

Why had I said that to Shawn back at the hospital? He just worries about me because I'm the only family he's got!

I paced my room, as I usually do when I'm angry or stressing. As I was yelling silently at myself, I passed my homework table. Yesterday, when I'd daydreamt, I'd been sitting there. I had been doodling, too, when I'd started to daydream. There, on my desk, was another sketch.

I walked over to it. Again, it was way to good for me to have drawn while I was fully conscious. The sketch was of Avian. It was through my eyes; he was sitting in front of me, and seemed to be explaining something. In the back round, there were the trees of the forest, and the dens in the clearing. Picking it up, I looked at it closer. Above the trees, in the sky, I could see that city.

Again, I took the drawing and pinned it to my bulletin board. _I wonder how many of these things I'm gonna make._

Then I heard something ringing. _What's that?_ I thought. I looked around for the noise. It sounded like it was coming from my backpack. My backpack was ringing? I was ready to believe anything, ever since that last daydream.

I walked over to it. The sound seemed to be coming from the right pocket. _Duh! My phone!_

Quickly, I unzipped the pouch, and grabbed my phone. Too late, I'd just missed the call. I flipped it open to see who it'd been. Tylor! Why'd he called me? He never calls me!

Tylor was another one of my best friends. He was pretty tall, about five-four, and had red hair. I'd known Tylor since first grade, not counting second grade, when he moved away, but came back in third.

I dialed his number to call him back.

_Ring. Ring. Ring._

"Hello?" Tylor answered.

"Hey! You called me?" I said.

"Yeah, I did! I partly called just to see what was up, and then I also heard something really weird."

"Well, if you wanna know what's up then brace yourself," I told him.

"Why? What happened?" Tylor asked.

"I just got back from the hospital! I had to get stitches!"

"What? No way, are you serious?" Tylor asked, shocked.

"Yep! I–" Then I stopped. Tylor was used to dealing with all my problems. I always called him when I was stressed out, but would he believe this?

"What? You what?" Tylor asked curiously.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you the truth," I said.

"No, come on! Tell me!"

"Don't laugh!"

"I won't! Swear it!"

"Ok… well… you know how I daydream? Like, a lot?" I began.

"Yeah… but what's that got to do with it?"

"Everything! See, I was daydreaming during Art, and I dreamt about this white fox…" I told him the whole story, from start to finish, in as much detail as I could. I wished I was talking with him face to face so I could've seen his expression. When I'd finished, there was silence.


	8. Chapter 8

Dreaming in Reality 

**Chapter 8**

"Um…" Tylor said, uncertainly. But that was all that was needed to set me off.

"No! You've gotta believe me!" I screamed into the phone.

"I – I – you – it's just – really hard to believe," Tylor stuttered, I kinda felt sorry for the guy, he'd never heard me this angry. But I had to make him believe me.

"I swear I'm telling the truth!" I yelled again.

"Ok, ok, ok!" He said. I still wasn't convinced that he believed me.

"I can – I can prove it to you!"

"Really? Good, 'cause I'm in need of some really good proof right about now," Tylor said.

"Ok…" Great, what'd I gotten into? How in the world was I gonna prove to Tylor that I was actually daydreaming in other worlds? It's not like I can actually _show_ Avian to him…

"Wait! That's it!" I said aloud.

"What? What's it?"

"I know how I'm gonna prove it to you! When's the soonest you can be over here?" I asked him.

"I don't know… like, gimme 'til one o'clock, after lunch. That alright?" Tylor asked. He probably thought I was gonna freak out again.

"Yes! That's great! I'll see you then, bye!"

"Ok, later then," He hung up.

_Now I know how Avian felt when I wouldn't believe him,_ I thought.

In the hours before Tylor arrived, I didn't do much. I basically laid on my bed, careful not to hit my arm, because it still kinda hurt, and listened to music. Tylor turned up right at one, like he said he would. Of course, it probably wouldn't have been particularly easy to accidentally late. Tylor just lived in the apartment building that was across the street from mine.

"Hey," He said as he entered my room.

"Hi! Ok, I'm sure you'll believe me after this," Then, I took my sketches of Avian down from my bulletin board and handed them to Tylor.

"Wow, these are _really_ good, Kiera," Tylor said, in awe as he looked at the drawings.

"That's exactly my point!" I exclaimed.

"So you're an awesome drawer, what's that got to do with the fox-dream? How is this supposed to be proof?" He asked me.

"Dude, I can_not_ draw that good! I drew those while I was daydreaming. That's Avian right there, the fox, of course. See how much detail is in it? I'd never, _ever_ have been able to do that normally! These dreams _have_ to be real!" I explained. I tried to put as much emphasis into my voice as possible.

Tylor still had an uncertain look on his face. _Great, if this doesn't prove it to him, then nothing will!_ I thought.

"And look at this!" I took my jacket off and showed him the stitches on my arm, "The doctor said that this could only have been caused by some type of dog. A fox is a type of dog."

Finally, Tylor looked somewhat convinced.

"Holy cow! He did that to you? Why?" Tylor asked.

"Because I wouldn't believe him; he had to prove to me that he was real, so he attacked me, and that was in the daydream, remember, and the cut was there when the daydream was over," I explained.

"So, what does this mean, then? You're seeing into other worlds; people are gonna think you're totally mad!" Tylor examined.

"Well, people aren't gonna know, are they? We'll just keep this a secret for now, between you and me. In the mean time, I should try 'n' find out why Avian told me all this stuff," I said.

"Yeah, ok, cool," he said.

"So… you wanna stay for dinner?" I asked him, putting my jacket back on.


	9. Chapter 9

**Dreaming in Reality**

**Chapter 9**

Tylor did stay for dinner. Afterwards, we went to the living room to play some video games. Tylor was totally the best at any video game, even if he'd never heard of it before. You give him a controller, tell him what to do, and he's off beating everyone.

"Oh hey! I just remembered something!" I said, though I didn't look at Tylor, my gaze was directed at the T.V. screen.

"Good for you!" Tylor said, in the same manner. I laughed.

"Yeah, I know! But, when we were on the phone, before I told you about Avian and stuff, you said that you'd called because you'd heard something weird. What was that?"

Tylor paused the game, something he never did. This must have been really weird.

"So you didn't hear? At school, we got a new student," Tylor explained.

"Um… that's great, but it's not weird," I said, confused.

"No, that's not all. She came from Norway! She's Norwegian!"

At this Tylor and I burst out laughing. For some reason, Norwegian was just a hilarious word!

"Wow, that's… uh… cool!" I said, as I gained my ability to breathe back a little.

"Yeah… wonder what she'll be like?" Tylor marveled. When he said that, I couldn't help it. I let out a little fox-whistle.

"Oh shut-up! I didn't mean it like that!" Tylor laughed and pushed me over. While I was distracted, he started the game up again, and started to get ahead of me.

"Hey! That's not fair!"

"Is by my rules!"

Tylor and I played video games for a long time. At around five or six, his mom called and told him to come home. So we said good-bye and he left.

After that, I went directly to my room. I still couldn't face Shawn after what I'd said to him back in the hospital that morning. Though I knew I'd have to sometime, no matter how rude I'd been. _I'll do it at dinner,_ I thought.

In the mean time, about two hours, I decided to listen to music. I went over to my stereo and picked out my favorite CD. Inserting it in the stereo, I hit Play, and went over to lay on my bed. I closed my eyes, taking in every word of the songs. This was my version of 'meditating', as my friends called it. Anyway, it helped get my mind off things. I'd listened to the CD twice, and then I heard Shawn's voice coming in very faintly over the music.

"Kiera! Dinner!" He yelled.

I got up and turned the stereo off. Then I opened my door and walked into the dining room. Shawn had prepared meatloaf, with mashed-potatoes and gravy, and green beans. It was one of my favorite meals.

We sat down in silence. So Shawn obviously still remembered my rude comment back in the hospital.

"Listen, Shawn," I began. He looked up at me. I couldn't read his expression, "I'm sorry about what I said at the hospital. I know I shouldn't have… I really don't know what set me off."

He forked up some meatloaf, put it in his mouth, and chewed it slowly. _Had it offended him _that_ much?_

"Do you know why I took that to so much offence?" He asked finally, after he'd swallowed.

"Yes," I answered him. He looked at me expectantly, "I know you're not _over-protective_, you just worry about me, 'cause I'm all you've got."

"Exactly. Ever since Mom and Dad died…" he looked at his plate, "I just don't want to lose you, too."

"I know. But you won't, I _can_ look after myself, you know," I told him.

"I know, I know…" Then the friendly sarcasm I knew returned to his face, "You could get through anything with that thick skull of yours!"

"Hey!" I said.

Dinner went on as such. We joked and talked. I was glad he'd forgiven me for my rude behavior, I couldn't imagine life without Shawn at all.

After dinner, we went into the living room and watched a movie. But I couldn't concentrate. My thoughts were still on the white fox I'd met in my dreams. Why wouldn't Avian come back to me? And most importantly, what was the _terrible thing_ that was going to happen that I apparently had no control over? What could be that bad?

When the movie was over, Shawn was asleep in his chair. I decided to leave him; he'd soon wake up and go to his own room. So, with my thoughts still buzzing around in my head, I got up and turned the TV off.

As soon as I was in my room, I walked over to my stereo. I turned it on, but turned the volume down so I could barely hear it. This helped me sleep on weekend nights. Then, I walked over to my dresser and picked out some sweats to sleep in. Once dressed, I turned my lights off and crawled under my covers. All this time my mind still swarming with thoughts of Avian. I didn't understand why it was so important to me, though.

_You know, it could be that you're the only one in this world that knows there are other worlds,_ a voice inside my head said sarcastically.

It took a bit of time, but gradually I began to fall asleep. But this time, it wasn't undisturbed.


	10. Chapter 10

Dreaming in Reality 

**Chapter 10**

I had no clue where I was.

I was in the middle of a grand hall. It seemed to be the center of a castle ruled by a rich and powerful king. For the floor was made of smooth blue tile, and the walls seemed to be made of solid marble. There was a chandelier above my head; it was probably one hundred or so feet in the air.

In front of me was a staircase, which seemed to be made of the same type of marble as the walls. I figured I was here, so why not explore? I walked up the steps, and when I finally reached the next level, there was another set of stairs to my right, and also to my left. Though my right hand was dominant, I decided to go left. When I again reached the top of staircase, there was yet another set.

_Hopefully there won't be too many of these…_I thought. I had never been the most athletic person in the world, so I was going to tire pretty quickly. Lucky, though, the stairs did end quite soon after that. But the last set came to a halt right in front of a hallway so long and dark, I couldn't see the end of it. I was just about to decide to not follow it and turn back down the stair sets again when I heard that awful noise.

It was one of the nastiest sounds I'd ever heard: the squealing of a dog of some sort in pain. It had come from the end of this hall that I stood in front of. I couldn't resist my curiosity; I had to find out what the squealing was.

As I walked down the hall, there was silence. No more squealing noises came for a long while. _What had that been?_ I thought. Then I heard another squeal, and it was followed by the sound of barking and growling. There must be a dogfight somewhere, but in a palace? In all the fiction books I'd ever read, this was one detail that had been omitted in each one. Usually dogs aren't in a palace, anyways.

Finally I came to a small, wooden door at the end of the hall. Barking and growling and squealing noises were still streaming from behind it. I heard talking amongst it.

"…know why it's forbidden," An unfamiliar voice rasped, angrily.

"Yes, of course, but rules are made to be broken. Especially when it comes to survival," I knew that voice. It was Avian, sounding really agitated.

"You're going to get us all killed if you persist in your actions!" Again, the squealing, barking, and growling noises. There was some silence afterwards, but soon Avian, heaving for breath, spoke.

"You don't understand; I'm doing the exact opposite. I'm _saving_ us all!"

"How so?" The other voice asked. Avian hesitated. It was killing me just to listen to them and try to imagine what they were looking like, so I put my hand on the cold handle. Afraid it would make a loud noise, I opened the wooden door very slowly.

I saw Avian first, and had to suppress a gasp as I looked him over. He was bleeding heavily from numerous wounds, and was leaning on one side, as if trying to keep his weight off of a certain paw injury. _What kind of animal could have caused that much damage?_ I wondered, wide-eyed. My question was answered as I opened the door a bit more and leaned my head around to take in the massive beast.

It was a giant bear; a grizzly, without a doubt. The very first thing I noticed about him were his eyes. They were gray, but so much that they stuck out immensely against his oak brown fur. He had vast brown paws with claws an inch or more long on the ends of powerful legs. His muscular body had many battle scars, but what surprised me the most was that most of the wounds were fresh. It must have been Avian who caused them, but how? Avian, an Arctic Fox, was so tiny compared to the bear.

"How so?" the bear growled, again, getting irritated.

"She is," Avian finally said, "a Visionary."

The bear was silent, his expression unreadable. Suddenly he stood on his hind legs, a forbidding sight in and of itself, and roared with laughter. The sound seemed to almost shake the walls and floor.

That word rung a bell in my head. But _where_ had I heard it?

"A Visionary, huh?" the grizzly repeated, "That's what you think? Visionaries: Humans with unusually keen foresight?"

"They call it daydreaming," Avian corrected him.

"Whatever," the bear said, dismissing the thought, "You know they were wiped out _centuries_ ago."

"Yes, I know. But I've found one still here. She can help us win the war! Don't you understand?"

"No, Avian, I don't understand you. She's only Human, she'd never be able to help us. The Human race is the weakest of them all," the other animal said scornfully. At this I let out a small sound in disagreement. I saw Avian's ears perk, he must've heard me. Being closest to the door, I know he could smell me too. The bear must not have picked up my scent yet because of all the smell of blood. But Avian knew it was me, and quickly covered up for my mistake.

"Fine. Believe what you will. _I_ know it's right, _I'm_ not blinded by power and greed," Avian shot back. This must've been the wrong thing to say, because what I saw next nearly stopped my heart in its tracks.

The massive bear stood up on its hind legs again, only standing up straight and tall this time, a sinister look in his gray eyes. He pulled back his right front paw and let out a growl that sent chills down my spine. With full force, he threw his paw at Avian, hitting the fox square in the side. Avian went flying towards the wall, hitting it with a great thud, and sliding to the ground. He lay there motionless, and I wanted so badly to go and help him. I almost did, but the fox opened his eyes suddenly and looked straight at me, distress in his vivid green eyes that said as clearly as if it were written in a book, _No, get out!_

I froze, unsure of what to do. The great grizzly still hadn't noticed me, even though I was standing away from the protection of the door. He was moving in towards Avian, and again I was leaning towards running out to help Avian. But the fox still had the pleading look in his eyes. Suddenly, his eyes relaxed and he winked at me, an unusual sight to be coming from an Arctic Fox.

I was confused, but then someone was calling my name. I turned around to see where it came from, but there was no one in sight. My name was repeated over and over, but no matter where I turned, I couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from.

I opened my eyes. Shawn was standing over me, attempting to wake me up. But it was still dark.

"What do you want?" I asked. I was not fully awake, so the words came out sounding like _whad-'ou-aunt?_

"Could you keep it down?" Shawn responded, sounding tired and grouchy, "I can't sleep with you talking and yelling like that."

"Oh…" I must've been voicing my dream in my sleep again, "Sorry, Shawn. I'll try."

He rolled his eyes, turned and walked out of my room. I sat up and glanced over at my alarm clock: 2:23AM. I slunk back under the covers and tried to think over the dream.

The first thought that hit my mind was whether Avian was going to be ok. Though I had only just met him, I felt for him as two friends that had known each other for years might. My mind drifted to his sudden change in emotion. He had had that extremely worried look in his eyes, and then it had changed to completely relaxed just like that.

My mind changing direction, I thought over what the two animals had been arguing and fighting over. Avian had said something about a war. I suddenly thought of a movie I'd seen in the past _War of the Worlds_. I laughed silently to myself, knowing I wouldn't be able to think too much longer, I was too tired.

I figured I'd ask Avian about everything the next time I saw him. The last thing I thought before I fell back into a deep, undisturbed sleep was,_ If I ever see him again_.


End file.
